Split Seams
by Apex Sixtail
Summary: An item that the Chinese junk seller has may just cure Ranma's curse forever, but just how will it, and at what price.
1. Chapter 1

Split Seams

"Ranma 1/2" and most of the characters and setting are copyright Rumiko Takahashi.

"Why'd you do that?" The recently turned female Ranma yelled at the one person who he would have never thought would have purposely activated his curse. Here he had been, minding his own business doing his homework for once, when Akane strolled in and doused him with the rest of a glass of ice water she had been drinking.

"Well, you were complaining like a girl, so I thought I'd help you out." Akane huffed as she set the glass down on the table. True, he had done nothing to upset her, but he had been there and she was bored. She almost had a script for the scene that was about to play out.

"I was not!" Ranma yelled again.

"Yes you are boy!" Genma, who had been sitting at the table chimed in.

"Says who?" The redhead brought the tone down. He elegantly shifted between his two argumentative voices, one for Akane, and one for his father. The difference was that usually, while arguing with his father, they were fighting, so he had to use less energy to argue, so he could use it to show his loudmouthed parent that he wasn't sloppy. Arguing with Akane, he would never hit her, for fear that he might hurt her. So he could use more energy in the verbal assault. The routine had become so entrenched in his brain, that he did it without even thinking about it. Soon enough, the argument became physical, with Genma and Ranma fighting very close to the koi pond.

"Face it boy, you are very sloppy." Genma taunted his son as the two continued to fight. At the taunt, Ranma seemed to step up the fight's pace. Genma, not expecting that, was soon headed head first for the pond. After a moment, a giant panda's head emerged from the pond.

"What was that, lard ass?" Ranma called as he entered the house to find some hot water. Akane, who had been watching the events unfold from the living room, chuckled quietly to herself. She did feel bad using her fiancé for entertainment, but felt that Genma had it coming after he had personally raided her bra drawer to appease Happosai. "What, It's broken again?" Ranma's voice yelled in disbelief. Akane gasped as she heard the statement. Immediately, a pang of guilt sprung up in her chest. A moment later Ranma stomped into the living room. Even though the expression was supposed to be anger, his girl form just couldn't make it look as menacing as he intended. Cursing the Kami that was punishing her for her entertainment, she sighed in defeat.

"Come on, I'll walk with you to Dr Tofu's office." She said as she lead him to the door and out onto the streets of Nerima. As they started down the street, Akane took note that Ranma wasn't walking on the fences, but on the street with her. Not only that, but he wasn't complaining about the situation that she had put him in. As the walk continued, she started to become irritated at his sudden lack of complaints. As her anger got the best of her, she whipped her head around to give him a tongue lashing about how he was too quiet, when she noticed that he had his head hung. "Great Ranma, stab me with the guilt knife again." She mumbled under her breath, hoping that he didn't hear her.

"What was that?" Nope, no such luck was on her side today.

"Nothing." She said quickly hoping he would take the hint and drop the conversation.

"Oh, OK." Her hopes soared at his acceptance of dropping the conversation. Unfortunately, the tone in which he said it caused her guilt to come back at full force. Being Akane, she handled it in a way very fitting her personality.

"Will you quit that for Pete's sake!" Yep, she turned around to face him and yelled at him with all her anger.

"Look," Ranma put up his hands, "I don't have the resolve for this. Its obvious that you don't want to be around me today, so I'll find my own way to Dr Tofu's." Before Akane could put up any argument on her behalf, Ranma jumped up onto the fence, then onto the nearest roof, and disappeared from her sight. Akane stood there fuming with anger with no one to vent her rage on, so she did the next best thing.

Funny how at the time, some things always feel like a good idea until there put into motion. Akane was now feeling the results of a good idea that really wasn't. She pulled her fist away from her other hand and examined her knuckles. They were red, swollen, and turning slightly purple despite the small amount of blood that was seeping from one of the knuckles. She tried to move her fingers, but pain shot up her arm at the first movement. The wall hadn't faired much better, as it was lying in a heap of rubble on the ground. She knew were Ranma was headed, and now she had an excuse to see the doctor as well. A very painful excuse mind you, but an excuse non-the less.

As she entered Dr. Tofu's clinic, seeing that no one was around, she started to head to the back where he was sure to be found. As she reached the door to the examination room, she heard voices coming from within. "Thanks, Doc, I owe you one." Ranma said as he moved toward the door.

"Don't mention it." Dr. Tofu replied. Akane, hearing movement, tried to get away from the door. Her movements were a little too late as a now male Ranma opened the door. "Wha…" He asked stunned to see her there.

"Yea, well what do you want?" Akane shouted not in anger but in embarrassment at being caught eavesdropping.

"Nothing." Ranma's sigh gave Akane another shot of guilt. She was starting to boil over with seething anger at the sudden amount of guilt that she was receiving from her fiancée. Before she could confront him about it, he simply passed her in the doorway and started down the hall toward the front door. Now shaking, Akane entered the examination room.

"The nerve of that boy!" Akane growled thru her teeth.

"Oh, and what did he do this time?" Dr. Tofu asked.

"He's trying to put me on a guilt trip today." Akane grumbled as she held her hand out so Dr. Tofu could examine it.

"Dear lord Akane, what did you do to your hand?" Dr. Tofu asked as he saw the hand.

"I punched a wall." Akane replied, some of the anger starting to drain from her.

"Why on earth would you do that?" the doctor asked. "Aren't bricks more your specialty?"

"Yeah, yeah, Ranma did something to get me really angry, and the wall was handy after the idiot ran away." She winced as he started examining the hand.

"What did he do this time?" he asked, not only curious, but also to keep her mind off the examination.

"He just started moping." She replied. As the doctor touched her middle knuckle, she screamed in pain.

"Well Akane," he started after the ringing in his ears had quieted down to a dull roar, "you have broken several bones in your hand. I'm afraid that you're going to need to have your hand set in a cast for a while." She grimaced as he told her the bad news. "I'm going to give you a local antistatic to numb the pain and let me set the fractures, then we'll get you into a cast." Dr. Tofu sounded as cheerful as ever as he set about to get everything prepared to set and cast Akane's hand. First he exited the room, only to return a minute later with a small pan, a pile of gauze strips, and a bag of plaster of Paris. After he set every thing up, he opened up a cabinet that stood in the corner and proceeded to pull out a small bottle of a clear liquid and a syringe. Akane cringed at the needle, never having been fond of them. He proceeded to stick the needle into the bottle and draw a small amount of the liquid into the syringe. "So, why was he moping?"

"Who?" Akane asked, having forgotten the earlier conversation.

"Ranma." Tofu said as he approached her with the needle.

"Why does he do anything? I'm sure that his over developed sense of pride was crushed after I doused him with cold water."

"You were the one who splashed him?" Dr. Tofu asked as he stuck the needle into Akane's hand just in front of the wrist. She was so wrapped up in the conversation that she never even noticed and nodded her head yes. "Why did you do that?"

"Because he was complaining like a girl."

"What was he doing that he was complaining about?" Dr Tofu feel for the fractures and set them.

"Homework."

"So, let me see if I get this right." The doctor started to sum up as he continued to work on her hand. "Ranma was complaining about doing homework. A task that he loathes but was doing it anyway. He was complaining about it, so you felt it was right to punish him for his complaints and activate his curse. A curse which he feels makes him less of a man, and for Ranma, being a man according to his upbringing is everything." As the words sunk in, Akane's guilt came back full force. She realized that Dr. Tofu was right. She silently berated herself for a few minutes. "Hey, don't let it get to you too bad, after all you mean the world to him." Dr. Tofu gave an uncharacteristic shot to Akane as he started to mix the plaster.

"What do you mean by that?" She yelled at him.

"Akane, I thought by now you would have seen it." Tofu sighed. "It is clearly written in his actions, the way he moves around you, heck even the way he moves when he's not around you. I can see it in his eyes as he looks at you, even when you two are supposed to be angry with each other." Dr Tofu said as he started to dip the strips in the plaster and wrap them around her hand, wrist, and a portion of the forearm

"I haven't noticed." Akane said in a quiet voice as the revelation started to hit home.

"Done." The doctor said after a few moments of silence, stepping back to examine his work. "Unfortunately, your going to have to sit here until the cast has dried."

"How long will that be?" Akane asked.

"Oh about half an hour." Akane groaned as she thought about how long she was going to have to sit there without any thing to do. "I'll call the dojo and see if someone can come and walk you home." After Dr. Tofu left the room, Akane put her head down on the table and started thinking about any random topic. She started thinking about her friends, which turned into thinking about school, which turned into thinking about Ranma. Her broken hand was all his fault. It had to be, because if it wasn't for him, she wouldn't have hit the wall now would've she. As this line of thought ran thru her mind, Ryoga's voice played in the back of her head.

"This is all your fault Ranma!" She cringed as she realized how much she sounded like the lost boy. Was this really Ranma's fault? Sure, he had gotten her angry by making her guilty. Guilty, the word stuck in her mind. "Why was I guilty of anything?"

_Because you were the one who splashed him with cold water when the water heater was broken!_ An annoying little voice in the back of her mind shouted at her.

"But I didn't know that the heater was broken." She said out loud.

_You're still the reason he had to make this trip down here._

"Well, he didn't have to sulk around me did he?"

_You didn't have to go with him._ The voice gave a smug answer, knowing that it had just won the argument. Akane slumped down in the chair. Why did she come with him here? Could it be that she really did have fee-

"Ok, lets take a look at the cast." Dr. Tofu interrupted her thoughts as he reentered the room. "Kasumi said she would be right over to walk you home." Akane cringed as she thought about Kasumi walking in right now. Not only about how she would scold her about hitting things in anger, but also with Dr. Tofu examining her hand when she did walk in, Akane shuttered. Not noticing her shutter, after looking the cast over, Dr. Tofu looked at her with a warm smile on his face. "The cast is set and dry so as soon a Kasumi arrives, you can leave with her. I'll give you some pain killers for when the anesthetic wares off." Dr Tofu exited the room again, motioning for Akane to follow him. They entered his office and Akane sat down in a chair. Dr Tofu went to the cabinet, unlocked it, and retrieved a bottle out of it. "These herbs will help dull the pain, but I will also prescribe some regular pain killers as well."

"Thank you Dr Tofu." Akane said as she took the bottle of pills form the doctor. Then Dr Tofu stood up straight, Akane only needed to see his glasses to know who just came in. "Hello Kasumi." Akane moaned as Dr Tofu immediately turned to the wall.

"Hello Kasumi nice weather we're having. How long are you in town?"

"Dr Tofu, I'm over here." Kasumi called out. Immediately Dr Tofu turned toward the hat rack.

"My your thin. Have you been eating enough?"

"Akane," Kasumi turned her attention to her little sister, "When Dr Tofu called he, oh my Akane your hand!"

"Come on Kasumi, or he'll never get calmed down." Akane grabbed her sister's hand with her good one and lead her out the door.

"Call again when you can stay longer" Dr Tofu called out to them. After a few minuets, his glasses cleared up and he saw that he was facing the hat rack. "Not again." He groaned.


	2. Chapter 2

"So, what happened?" Kasumi asked as the two sister walked home.

"It's nothing." Akane mumbled.

"You didn't try to hit Ranma in anger again did you?" Kasumi asked. Assuming that she was right, the older Tendo started to berate her youngest sibling. "Akane, what have I told you about hitting someone in—"

"Look, I didn't try to hit him OK, I punched a wall after he was gone!" Akane snapped at her oldest sister.

"Still, Akane you should be more careful especially with others feelings." Akane looked up at her oldest sister with the most annoyed look she could muster. Kasumi, noting her look, continued. "Akane, you're a good person, but your temper pushes people way. I think you could make a lot more friends if you just were more patient." Kasumi tried to reason with her youngest sister, but when Akane started to growl, Kasumi just sighed. "All right, but at least think about my advice, please." Akane winced at the tone of Kasumi's voice. She hated the way she had just treated Kasumi, but that was the only way she knew of to end a conversation abruptly. It seamed that Akane was destined to ride the guilt train all day long, thank any deity up above that the afternoon was getting late. As they entered the gate to their residence, Ranma, who had been waiting for them, stood up and approached Akane.

"Akane, I just want to say that…. What happened to your hand?" Ranma asked as he saw her cast.

"I broke my hand Ranma. I broke it because YOU started to mope around me and I angry because YOU always seem to act like a jerk because YOU are an arrogant pigheaded cretin and because YOU can't seem to handle a little hardship in your life. I mean come on Ranma, how hard can it be to change into a girl, I'm a girl all the time and you don't see me getting all huffy about it! Do you? Days like today, I'm so close to calling the whole thing off. Do you want that Ranma? If you do, than just give me a reason!" Akane was shaking after her little tirade. Ranma's brain was trying to put words together to make up a comeback so fast, they all just slurred into one long sound. The only clear word coming out of his mouth was I, with a healthy amount of uhms and ahhs mixed in to make the sound continuous. The only thought the poor boy could comprehend was a little technique that was called the Saotome final attack. Ranma disappeared so fast from sight, that Kasumi thought he had to be practicing illusionary magic. After the anger drained from her for a second or two, Akane hung her head. "Yes Kasumi, I will think about what you said. I just really can't deal with him right now." And with that, she proceeded into the house and up to her room. Once in her room, she sat down at her desk and started to work on some homework.

_You know, you didn't have to yell at him. _Her continence decided to make its presence known

"I just wanted to let him know that he is the reason I broke my hand." Akane thought confidently.

_Didn't you break your hand on that wall?_

"Yes, because of him." Akane started to sound desperate.

_So, he forced you to hit the wall?_

"Yes, he made me feel guilty."

_So, you've felt guilty before, why attack a defenseless wall._

"Because, I, I don't know." Akane started to slump down on her desk.

_Face it, you have feelings for him._

"Alright, I do! Loathing and hate and fear and jealousy and respect and kinship and lo-" In the back of her mind, an ominous crack was heard.

"Stupid girl." Ranma kicked a pebble as he walked down the street, His head hung.

"Excuse me, young man, but I was wondering if you could show me the way to the Nekohanten?" A young Chinese man stopped Ranma in the street.

"Sure, not a problem." With that, Ranma proceeded to take the man to the restaurant.

"Thank you for you help." The man bowed to Ranma. "In return for your help, I would like to give you this." He handed Ranma a popsicle stick.

"What is this?" Ranma looked at the stick suspiciously.

"That is the stick of split seams. Legend says that if you imagine a part of you that you want to get rid of and break the stick, then that part will disappear forever."

"Wow, really! Thank you!" Ranma ran back towards the Tendo residence.

"Oh, too bad he didn't wait to hear the warning. Oh well." The man proceeded into the Nekohauten to peddle his junk.

Ranma landed on the roof of the house. He sat down and pondered the little stick he held in his hands. On the one hand, he truly wanted to be rid of his curse. It had been the bane of his existence since he fell into that stupid spring. That and his other bane, his father, combined to make his life a roller coaster with no end in sight. Just removing the curse would recover the feeling of totally being a man amongst men, and he wouldn't have to keep looking over his shoulder for the next car splashing the one puddle within a mile of him, which he just happened to be standing next to, or the next ladle lady. How did she always manage to splash him? You would think by know she would realize that her actions made a crazy situation all that much worse. Then again, maybe that's why she did it. The old lady was probably a recluse and the only excitement was to splash him with water. Ranma shook his head as he realized he had let his thoughts start to wander off. Putting his thoughts back on track, he listed the things he could think of that could, and knowing his luck would, go wrong. First and foremost, any cure that had came about was almost always ether temporary or just hoax. The ones that weren't fakes, something happened and ether the cure was destroyed or it had to be undone for some reason or another. Ranma's head started to hurt as he tried to decide if he should try the stick, or if he should seek some help from Dr Tofu. That man knew every thing about the legends and traditions of the area. Ranma wondered how he came to know so much, considering he was only 24 years old. Finally deciding to ask to Dr. Tofu in the morning, Ranma moved toward the edge of the roof to climb down when a noise caught his attention. Moving closer toward the sound, he found himself nearing Akane's window. When he got there, he recognized the noise as sobs, Akane was crying. Guilt and sorrow gripped Ranma's heart as he heard the girl he loved over all else crying. The girl he loved over all else. Did he really love her more that his parents, than his friends, more than the art? With out hesitation and with a speed that shocked him, he answered his questions with a yes. In that moment his resolve steeled, and he knew what he had to do. After all, it was for Akane.

Ranma got to the guest room and let himself in thru the window. He stood in the center of the room and fished the stick out of his pocket. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and concentrated on his curse. Unbenoneced to him, two pictures were forming on the stick in his hands. On one end was a picture of his head in male form, on the other, his female form. Ranma cleared his throat and began to speak. "I want to be rid of my Jusenkyo curse." He said clearly. After a second to steel his nerves, he quickly broke the stick. At first nothing happened and Ranma considered opening his eyes. Then it started. A fire in his lower stomach quickly spread throughout his body. Painful spasms took control of his muscles. As the seconds turned into minutes, Ranma started to regret his decision. Just when he felt like he was going to be torn apart, a huge jolt of electricity surged through his body. He collapsed on the floor, panting like he had run to school and back about fifty times with a swarm of angry wasps hot on his tail. After he caught his breath for a moment, he slowly started to get up off the floor. As he got to his knees, he let out a sigh. The only thing was, there were two sighs. His eyes flashed open and his head jerked up. After a second, he realized he was looking into his own eyes. After his brain processed that they didn't have a mirror in the room, he flipped onto his rear and back peddled until he hit the wall. The second thud broke him out of his stupor, that is when he realized that on the opposite side of the room sat his female form. They did the one thing that came natural to them, they screamed. Nabiki was the first to fling open the door. "What is..Oh my lord." She latched eyes on the two Ranmas sitting on opposite sides of the room. She was pushed in by a very angry Akane, who's expression turned to shock as she saw the scene. Soun, who was immediately pushed in by Genma, pushed her into the room. Both men's jaws hit the floor. Happosi peered in between Akane's and Nabiki's legs, the shock causing him to totally ignore the fact that he was standing between the two girls, and that Nabiki was wearing a short skirt.


	3. Chapter 3

Silence. Rarely is it enjoyed anywhere for very long. Especially in the Tendo household. The shocked silence could have lasted for an eternity, but silence is but a fleeting thing. Unfortunatly Happosai was the first to recover from the shock. Realizing that he was standing between two very lovely girls, and one who was wearing a short skirt, he did what came natural to him. He dove to his right to glomp onto Nabiki's bare legs. Unfortunatly for him, Akane was standing on his right. "Ahhh, Pervert!" Akane, who had brought a baseball bat to help convince Ranma to shut up, took a swing at Happosai, launching him out the window. Nabiki rushed out of the room to get a camera, seeing an opportunity to get some good money shots. Genma and Soun started crying, Genma because not only did he get his manly son back, but also now he had to deal with a daughter too, it seamed. Soun was crying because now he had another freeloader in his house.

Kasumi, who had just arrived, put her hand up to her mouth and said, "Oh my!"

As Nabiki returned, Genma started to yell at Akane about how she had treated the master. Nabiki started to snap off pictures like there was no tomorrow. Akane started to yell back at Genma to get a backbone and stop letting the old pervert walk all over him. Kasumi just stood in the back shaking her head. All the shouting stopped at once when everyone noticed that both Ranma's had stood up and started to approach one another. Everyone held their breaths, remembering the last time Ranma's two halves met. As they arrived at the middle of the room, they both pointed a finger at the other.

"Your," Female Ranma started

"Me." Male Ranma finished.

"This is too weird." They both said in unison.

"Ranma, what's going on?" Akane asked after a second of silence. Unfortunately, both Ranmas started trying to explain the situation at the same time, only in a different way.

"Hold it!" Nabiki stepped in between the two, the camera around her neck forgotten for the moment. "Not only can't you two try to answer at the same time, but you both can't be Ranma also. One of you have to take a different name until we get this settled." She looked at the male half. "You will be Ranma," then she looked at the female, "and you can be Ranko."

"Why do I have to be Ranko? I'm as much Ranma as him."

"Ranma is a male. It would be hard to explain why suddenly Ranma is a girl and a guy who looks like Ranma is actually Ranko, when a red headed girl has been running around here for the last year calling herself Ranko."

"Ok, I'll be Ranko." The girl relented.

"Good, now that that's settled, Ranma, what is going on?" Nabiki reiterated Akane's earlier question.

"I got this stick from a man off the street. He said that it would cure my curse. He said all I had to do was wish for my curse to be gone and break the stick. I did that and this is the result." Ranma pointed between himself and Ranko. Akane approached the two and bopped them both on the head.

"What was that for!" they both said in unison.

"For trusting something that you had just gotten from a stranger off the street." Akane started scolding them.

"Well if yoft, hay watch it!" Ranko started to explain when Ranma stepped forward and hit her with his shoulder like he tripped.

"Sorry, I'll try to be more careful next time." Ranma gave her a look that said more than the apology. Ranko, taking the hint, rolled her eyes but let it drop. Sensing that no further explanations were forthcoming, Kasumi pushed thru the crowd to Ranma and Ranko.

"If everyone is finished with this little scene than how about we find you a room Ranko."

"What about the guest room?" Ranko looked at Kasumi with questioning eyes.

"We can't have you sleeping in a room full of guys now, can we?" Kasumi asked the redhead as she led her out of the room and down the hall.

The next morning proceeded almost like usual, except that Ranko had to dodge several objects thrown at her when she walked in on Akane, who had forgotten to put up the occupied sign, in the bathroom. After which, Ranko remembered that she didn't have to go to school, so she returned to bed. Ranma and Genma fought out in the yard, only Genma never got wet. Ranma laughed hysterically each time he did because he didn't change into a girl. After a quick bath and a quick bite to eat, what he could get away from Genma, he joined Akane at the front gate to begin their walk to school. Today, the walk went pretty much like normal, Akane walking on the sidewalk, Ranma up on the fence. No words were said between the two on the whole way into school. At school, Kuno started his spiel when Ranma, not missing a step, punched him in the stomach as he walked on by the kendo captain. Akane just followed Ranma, not knowing why he was so quiet today.

Meanwhile, back at the residence, Kasumi shook Ranko awake. "Rise and shine sleepy head, we're going shopping today." Kasumi said as she walked over to the window and pulled back the blinds. Ranko, who had been just woken up, slapped her hand over her eyes to shield them from the invading light. Slowly as she sat up, Kasumi's words started to hit home thru the fog.

"What? Why?" Ranko asked as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

"We need to get you a wardrobe." Kasumi said.

"What's wrong with the one I've got?"

"Sorry, dear, but those are Ranma's cloths, we need to get you your own cloths." Reluctantly, Ranko got up and headed for the bathroom to wash up. As she was in there, Kasumi opened the door a crack.

"Here are some cloths for you to wear today." Kasumi's hand reached into the bathroom with a pile of cloths on it. Ranko took the cloths and started to look them over, realizing that these were some of Akane's cloths, including under things.

"I am not wearing these!" Ranko shouted as she examined the cloths. At this, Kasumi opened the door all the way.

"I hate to inform you of this, but you are fully a girl, and being such, you will dress in the proper attire." Ranko backed away from the commanding tone that she had never heard Kasumi use before. "Besides," Kasumi continued in her usual tone, " if these are not to your liking, I can always go get a dress for you to wear."

"No, these will be fine." Ranko grumbled, slightly shocked that Kasumi had such a commanding tone. As Ranko was dressing, the door flew open once more. Nodoka gasped at what she saw in front of her. " Uh, hi mom?" Ranko gave her mother a small wave.

"Ranma Saotome, what in the world did you do to yourself this time." Nodoka folded her arms over her chest and stared menacing at Ranko. Kasumi walked up behind Nodoka at that moment.

"That's not Ranma, aunt Nodoka, that's Ranko." Nodoka just shook her head.

"What on earth would convince you, or Ranma, or who ever your going to say did this, to do this." Ranko just bowed her head at her mother's question. "Answer me!" Ranko flinched at her mother's demand for an answer.

"Akane." Ranko looked her mother in the eyes as she answered her.

"Don't bring your fiancé, I mean Ranma's, just don't bring her into the middle of this."

"But it's the truth." Ranko shot back.

"Watch your tone with me young man."

"Sorry, but I'm telling you the truth. I did this so that maybe Akane wouldn't think of me as the annoying freak that I am." Nodoka gasped

"Ranma, or Ranko, you are not, or have you ever been a freak." Nodoka sighed as she pulled her new daughter into a hug. After a moment, she leaned back with Ranko still in her arms. "But we still need to get you some cloths." Ranko groaned at the prospect of shopping with the two ladies.

Akane sighed as she left school. Not that it had been a hard day. Actually it was the opposite. Ranma didn't start any arguments today. Not only that, but any time she started to get angry with him, like when Ukyo brought him an okonomiyaki, Ranma just mumbled a sorry and gave her the food, disappearing into the crowd. Ukyo started to run after him, but the flagpole started to chase her. The worst part was in class, as Ranma was actually paying attention. Not faking it so he wouldn't be called on, but actually listening and taking notes. Akane knew this for sure, remembering being caught leaning over to see what Ranma was writing down. Her biggest shock came in English, when he not only volunteered to read, but did it flawlessly. She was thankful that the day was done, hoping that what ever had gotten him into this little funk, would soon go away. At one point, she thought that maybe it was because of her hand, but she knew he was too much of an insensitive jerk to worry about her, wasn't he? Now here she was, walking about fifteen paces behind him. He wasn't walking on the fence like he normally did, he just trudged home with his head hung. Akane started to get feed up with his moping again, and decided to let him know about it.

"Ranma, wait up." She called as she sped up to catch up with him. "What's wrong with you?" she asked as she caught up with him.

"What do you mean?" he asked, lifting his head and looking at her.

"All you seamed to do today was mope."

"That's not true, I was happy this morning at not changing into a girl."

"That's just it Ranma, I thought that you would have been ecstatic all day. Heck, you even turned down Ukyo's okonomiyaki."

"I did not!" he turned to face her.

"Well, you didn't eat it, in fact, you gave it to me."

"It looked like Kasumi had forgotten half your lunch, and you looked like you could use it more than me." He was right, Kasumi had only gave her half of what she normally gave her, but she had forgotten Ranma's all together.

"What about you, you didn't even have any lunch." Akane's voice started to rise.

"I wasn't hungry. Besides, I wanted to do something nice for you for a change, but I can see even that blew up in my face. Sorry, next time I get a notion to do something nice, I'll just smack my self up side the head." Ranma started to walk away from her. "Gods, can't I do anything right anymore? So what's next, will Ryoga show up and beat me?" Just as he said that, a shadow leaped over the wall.

"Ranma, prepare to die!" Ryoga shouted as he landed in front of Ranma.

"Uhh, I can't take this any more." Ranma shouted as he jumped up on the nearest roof and was soon gone form sight.

"Coward!" Ryoga yelled at him, shaking his fist. Akane walked up to Ryoga and promptly slapped his face, but to Akane, the slap sounded more like a crack. Ryoga, with his cheek still stinging, approached Akane. "Akane, what did Ranma do to you this time?" he asked her.

"I think right now we should be asking ourselves what we have done to Ranma." She said quietly as she started to walk home, Ryoga following, curious as to what was going on.

As Akane entered the house, she saw Soun and Genma playing shogi in the living room. "I'm home, where is every one?" she asked

"Nabiki called to say that she was going to be late for dinner. Kasumi and Nodoka took Ranko out shopping and haven't returned yet. I haven't seen or heard from Ranma since this morning." Her father answered, not taking his eyes off of the board for fear that some more of his pieces would turn up missing. Just as he finished his explanation, Kasumi, Nodoka, and Ranko entered the room carrying several bags each. Akane looked over to them to acknowledge them, when she noticed what Ranko had on.

"Hey! Those are my cloths."

"Don't blame me, it was Kasumi's idea." Ranko defended herself.

"I suppose it could be worse." Akane sighed.

"Nope, it already is." Ranko said as she set her bags down and started to adjust the bra strap on her shoulder. Akane just groaned and looked at Kasumi.

"I expect those thoroughly washed before you give them back to me." With that, Akane spun around on her heels and proceeded out of the room and up the stairs to her room. Ranko just sighed, picked up her bags, and proceeded to the room that Kasumi had fixed up for her, the other two ladies following. No one noticed the shocked look on Soun's face as he saw all the bags the girls had brought in, no one except Genma, who took full advantage of the distraction to rearrange the pieces on the board so he had an insurmountable advantage over his friend.

Meanwhile outside, Ryoga sat on the roof across from the Tendo house with a dumbfounded look on his face. As he sat there, he pondered how Ranma, in the span of ten minutes, could change his sex, his cloths, found Kasumi and Nodoka, and enter the house shortly after Akane. He was still trying to figure that one out when movement off to the side caught his attention. Looking over caused his brain to reset. There landing on the roof of the Tendo house was Ranma. The thing that really threw the lost boy for a loop was the fact that he had one again changed his sex, his cloths, and some how had gotten out of the house without him seeing, only to come right back and hop onto the roof. With confusion setting in, he figured the only way to get some answers was from the horse's mouth, so to speak. So he hopped off the roof he was on, and proceeded to walk thru the gate to the Tendo property. After he got on to the grounds, he hopped up onto the roof and made his way over to where he had last saw Ranma. As he approached the spot, he saw another figure making it's way onto the room. Now Ryoga was totally confused, because Ranma had once again changed his sex, cloths, and had made his way off the roof, only to get right back on. Ryoga hadn't had to think this much in a long time, and now he had a monster headache. Continuing to move over to where he had seen the female Ranma go, he began to think he was delirious. Now he saw both of Ranma's forms sitting on the roof. Not being able to think of much else to do, and considering they had started to talk to each other, he decided to listen in.

"Hey." Ranma said.

"Hey." Ranko replied.

"So, how was your day?" Ranma asked.

"Shopping is defiantly for the birds." Ranko sighed.

"For the birds?"

"Remember in English the other day, those sayings."

"Oh yeah, now I remember. But why do you say that?"

"Lets just say that it's a lot more difficult to get dressed as a woman. I mean when you're a guy, all you have to remember is your waist, your length, and what size shirt, but as a woman, you have to remember that, plus your dress size, three measurements, and your cup size. Did you know that I'm a D?"

"Cup size?"

"Yeah, you know, what size your boobs are."

"Oh, so is a D good or bad?"

"Lets just put it this way, Akane is a large C."

"So your bigger than Akane?"

"Yep. Other than Kasumi and mother dragging me to all sorts of different shops, well, that's about all we did today. How about you?"

"School was fine, I managed to piss off Akane again."

"How did you do that?"

"I gave her an okonomiyaki that Ukyo had made me."

"I would have thought that would have pissed off Ucchan more."

"Well, after a short argument about that, Ryoga showed up, and I shouted something and took off. Now Ryoga probably thinks he won a fight, and Akane is probably total smitten with him by know. Why can't things just work out for me?" Kasumi's call of dinner stopped Ranko from giving an answer. As the two teenagers disappeared from the roof, Ryoga was left alone with his thoughts.

"Wow, Ranma did something nice for Akane." But after thinking about this fact for a while, his mind got lost, and he ended up with the same conclusion. "The jerk probably did something horrible to her and tried to cover it up by offering her the okonomiyaki." Standing up, he declared, "Ranma Saotome, you will pay for all the hardships you have made the sweet Akane Tendo suffer thru."

"Oh, hey, I thought I heard some one up here." Nabiki peaked her head over the edge of the roof. She was standing on a ladder that was put up so every one could find Ranma if he went to his little hiding spot. "Why don't you come join us for dinner." She offered.

"OK." Ryoga said as he followed Nabiki down the latter, and into the dinning room.


	4. Chapter 4

As every one settled down for dinner, Kasumi started to serve the meal. As she did, she noticed the arrangement of the family and their guests. On the side of the table to the right sat Nabiki. To her right sat Ryoga. On the side to her left sat her father and Aunt Nadoka and Uncle Genma . And on the side opposite of her sat Ranko, Ranma and Akane. An uneasy silence hung over the family as they dug in. The first thing she noticed was that Ryoga kept shooting glances between Ranma and Ranko. The next thing she noticed was that Akane kept shooting glances at Ranma. She also noticed that Ranma was eating slow and very deliberately, All thou Ranko and Genma more than made up for Ranma's lack of zeal with the usual fighting over food that Ranma and his father usually did. That went on until Genma, snatching a dumpling away from Ranko, bumped Nadoka with his elbow, to which Nadoka promptly unsheathed her katana a little bit, just enough for her husband and new daughter to see the top of the blade, to which they promptly started eating like human beings. Satisfied, Nadoka returned her katana to its scabbard and resumed eating. Ranko noticed that Ranma had hardly finished half of his dinner. She looked at him. "What's eating you?" She asked him.

"Nothing, I just don't feel like eating." Ranma said in a very uncharacteristically quiet voice.

"Oh, so you won't mind me doing this." With that, Ranko snatched some rice off of Ranma's plate.

"Ranko, you give that back right now." Akane half growled at Ranko.

"Why, the boy is acting like a louse, he doesn't deserve it." Genma added his two yen.

"Genma!" Totally forgetting that his wife was sitting next to him. Genma knowing he was right and his wife had no place talking back to him, asserted his place a the head of the Saotome household as he saw best.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" By practicing the crouch of the wild tiger.

"Pathetic." Ranko said as she stole more food off of Ranma's plate.

"Ranko, you give that back right now!" Akane growled.

"Both of you, I have had enough of your attitudes." Nadoka yelled.

"Please Nadoka, not at this table." Soun tried to assert himself in control of the situation.

"Don't try to correct me when I'm correcting the manners of my family." Nadoka growled at Soun. As a full-blown argument was about to start up, Ranma surprised every one by slamming his hands down on the table and getting up.

"Look, I said that I wasn't hungry. If Ranko wants to finish my food, so be it. Now if I maybe excused." Ranma growled as he left the table, slamming the door as he exited the dinning room.

As the stunned silence drug on for a little to long, Ryoga decided to break it up. "I'm suddenly not feeling too hungry myself. If I maybe excused also." He didn't wait for an answer as he got up and exited the dinning room through the same door that Ranma did. Akane was the second one to recover her senses. Getting up, she quickly followed Ryoga's lead, but forgetting to excuse herself.

Ryoga surprised himself as he found the guest room that Ranma and his father used. Pulling on the door, he found that it was locked, so he knocked. "Ranma, open up, it's me Ryoga."

"Why, so you can kick me when I'm down?"

"No, so I can talk to you as a friend." After a minute, Ryoga thought that Ranma was ignoring him, so he raised his hand to knock again. Just before he started to knock again, a click told him that Ranma had just unlocked the door. The door then slid open to let him in. Cautiously, Ryoga stepped into the room.

"Close the door." Ranma said after he got into the room. Closing and locking the door, Ryoga followed Ranma into the room.

Akane silently cursed as the door slid shut and the lock clicked. Rushing to her room, she grabbed a glass that she had left there earlier. She approached the door to the guest room and put the glass up to the door, emulating a trick she had learned from Nabiki. She cursed her self for resorting to a trick that Nabiki would do, but she convinced herself that it was for the greater good.

"So?" Back in the room, Ranma had sat down on his futon, motioning Ryoga to a chair at his desk. Sitting down, Ryoga gave Ranma a questioning look. "What did you want to talk about?" Ranma sighed.

"Well, for starters, what was that all about earlier?" Ryoga asked. Now it was Ryoga's turn to sigh as Ranma gave him a questioning look. "When you ran away from me?" He added.

"I just had a hard day, and the last thing I wanted was to have to defend my honor, or should I say the little I have left thanks to my pop."

"You've had hard days before, but it hasn't stopped you before."

"Yes, but have you noticed that we do the same things over and over again?"

"Ranma, in case you forgot, I'm constantly lost. Rarely am I ever in the same place long enough to start making a routine."

"Yes, but you always turn up here every so often, and when you do, what is the first thing that you do when you see us?"

"Ranma, prepare to die." Ryoga said so quickly that by the time he had processed what he said, smacking himself on the forehead seamed like a mute point. He still did it anyway, but it was still a mute point.

"See, every time, you challenge me to a fight, I accept, we fight, innocent people are endangered, and something causes us to end the fight before a conclusion can be reached. I'm just so tired of it all, I want to break out of this cycle we're in." Ranma sighed.

"Well, at least you get to come home with Akane."

"Come home with Akane!" Ranma growled out. "Oh yea like that's a treat. Usually after our fights she mallets me on the back of the head for picking on you. Then of course Shampoo or Ukyo come up to me and gets her more pissed, then she really lets me have it. I've been hit on the head so many time with different objects that I'm surprised that I don't have brain damage." Ranma stood in the spot he was at and let his emotions run through him. As the anger started to leave him, he collapsed on to his futon. Looking up at Ryoga, tears started to form in the corners of his eyes. "You want to know the worst part about my whole situation," he paused as he chocked back a sob, "that I have to live here with the woman who I love more than life, hell even more than the art, but the only p-passion she ha-has for for me i-is that she she hates me w-with a p-passion." Ranma barely chocked out the last part of his statement as he broke down in a fit of sobs.

Outside the door, Akane, thoroughly shocked by what she had heard, scrambled backwards like the door was on fire until her back hit the wall. The glass she had been using to listen into the guest room shattered on the floor where she had dropped it. Gasping for air as the emotional walls she had around her heart came crashing down on her, she became dimly aware of some one standing to her right. Looking up, her eyes met Ranko's. Ranko's looked to be on the verge of crying herself. Carefully, Ranko helped Akane up and helped her to her room. As she set her down on her bed, Akane looked up at Ranko with questioning eyes. "How long?" Was all Akane could vocalize.

"Since we met in the dinning room that first time." Ranko grabbed the chair that was at Akane's desk and sat down facing her.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Akane asked as she breathing started to return to normal.

Ranko took a deep breath before she answered Akane. "Well, for one, when you found out about my curse, it was in a very awkward way. Any teenage male in my predicament would have been just as embarrassed as I was. Then you confirmed my biggest fears when I next saw you in the dinning room with the table over your head shouting about how I was a pervert and a freak and you were going to kill me. It took all my control to make my presence known and not run away."

"Sorry," Akane said quietly, "but I was embarrass that I had walked in on a boy in the furo. Trying to kill you was the only way that I knew how to deal with boys."

"Up until I met you, I wanted nothing to do with the arrangement simply because my father had arranged it, that and I didn't want to be stuck with some one who didn't appreciate the art. When I first met you and you asked me if I wanted to spar with you, my heart nearly leaped out of my chest in elation. You where, and still are, my dream girl." Akane blushed a deep red at this comment, but so did Ranko. "But when you freaked out so much at my curse, I made a vow to my self to not force you into the contract, but before I could make a choice, your sisters forced you into the contract. My heart shattered into a million peaces. Here was the woman I had been dreaming about, kind, loves the art and beautiful, but she hates my guts because I'm a freak. So I tried to hard to get you to break off the engagement, but nothing I seemed to do worked."

"Beautiful, but you always say that I'm uncute." Akane questioned

"That's because no mater how hard I tried, calling you ugly was the one thing I just couldn't do. So I started calling you uncute, it was the loophole in my mind that I could call you without completely screwing up my mind."

"So, you never thought I was ugly?" Akane asked hopefully.

Ranko looked up strait into Akane's eyes, "Not once."

"Oh Ranma." Akane leaned forward and hugged Ranko.

"You mean Ranko." Ranko said bluntly. Akane pulled back from the hug and looked at Ranko. Realizing what she had done, she blushed again.

"Sorry."

"Hey, don't be. I'm still trying to sort out who I am my self, but I think we need to go defuse the situation in the guest room." Ranko said as she put her hand on Akane's shoulder. Nodding in agreement, both girls got up and exited Akane's room, headed toward the guest room. As they got to the room, Ranko raised her hand to knock when Ryoga opened the door. Immediately, he put his finger up to his lips to tell the girls to be quiet as he stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him.

"He's sleeping." Ryoga whispered as he started to walk down the hall. Quickly the girls started to follow him as he approached the stairs and descended them. As they got to the dinning room, Ryoga open the doors to a mosaic. No one had moved since Ranma had asked to be excused except for Ryoga, Akane, and Ranko. Realizing her opportunity, Ranko dove back into her place and started eating off of Genma's plate. That effectively broke Genma out of his stupor and he started to defend his plate while trying to steal from Ranko's. In short order everyone had recovered and dinner resumed like nothing had happened. To this, Akane started seething. She realized why Ranma had just had his breakdown. She expected this kind of behavior from Genma (Idiot) and Nabiki (no money was involved, hey Akane may love her sisters, but she also sees them for who they really are), but she thought that the rest of them could care. She took a deep breath to start yelling at them.

"I'm ashamed of all of you!" Ryoga beat her to the punch. Once again the family stopped eating. They all turned to look at Ryoga. Seeing that he had every one's attention, he proceeded. "A man just had a breakdown upstairs and no one is concerned about it? Nadoka, you haven't seen you son in over a decade, and now that your back in his life, you would rather scare him into submission with your sword than actually try to find out if he is stable." as Ryoga accosted Nadoka, she stood up and started to draw her katana, but when she saw the cold steel gaze that Ryoga gave her, she reflected on how she had treated her only son since being reunited with him. Bowing her head, she returned her sword to its scabbard and quietly sat back down at the table. Every one else at the table cringed at the prospect that the gaze that had knocked Nadoka down a peg would fall on them next.

Ryoga looked at the next person who he wanted to yell at, non other than the cause of Ranma's instability. "Genma," who cringed when he heard his name called, "I guess I shouldn't expect any different from you." At this, Genma let out a quiet sigh thinking he had been spared a lecture. "You are such a pompous idiot. You are even worse than my parents. At least my parents cared about me. All you care about is your self. Selling your son for a bowl of noodles, engaging him to his best friend at six just so you can get some free food. Dropping him into a pit of hungry cats with fish sausage wrapped around his body, and then again with several other cat treats, what the hell did you think would happen! Oh that's right, you don't think about any one other than your self." Genma, by this time, had sunken down almost so he was lying flat on the floor.

Then Ryoga looked at Nabiki. "And next we get to miss paparazzi. Is there any thing you wouldn't do for a Yen? Do you know how many times Ranma has had to defuse a situation that you started because of you love for money. Every time you get that twitch for money, somehow Ranma ends up getting hurt by it. Do you love money that much, or do you just hate Ranma that much?" as Ryoga stared at Nabiki, she stared back without emotion. "Oh that's right," Ryoga said after a minute, "You're the Ice Queen, nothing fazes you, just as long as money in involved."

Ryoga's gaze next landed on Kasumi. "Kasumi my dear," He said as she looked up at him, " get your head out of the clouds and down here on earth where it belongs. And while you're at it, get that doctor who's crazy about you to stop acting like a mental patient every time your name is mentioned. Some one is going to be seriously hurt one of these days."

Glancing over the table at who his next victim would be, he looked at Soun. Briefly the two made eye contact, before Ryoga shook his head at the Tendo Patriarch. Continuing his sweep of the table, he next saw Ranko, but not really knowing who she was or why she looked like Ranma's cursed form, he ignored her.

Finally, his gaze landed on a wide-eyed Akane. "And you, miss I hate boys. Don't you see what you have right in front of you?" Ryoga pleaded with her in a still loud voice. " I mean stop once in a while and think about what is happening around you before you go and give Ranma a flat top skull." Akane, because of the volume of voice that Ryoga had used, had tears start to well up in her eyes. Before they could break free of her eyelids, she spun around and headed back up the stairs, her sobs could be heard as she ran upstairs. Not the reaction Ryoga was looking for, stared at the stairs that she had just ascended, his mouth moving, but no words coming out. Ranko just looked up the stairs, than at Ryoga.

"Way to run your mouth a little to long there pig boy." She deadpanned. Breaking out of his stupor, Ryoga looked back down at the girl sitting at the table who had just insulted him.

"And just who are you?" He asked her.

"I'm Ranko. And before you ask, yes, I am Ranma's cursed form. I also think that you're going to be thrown out of the house." As she said that, Ryoga looked up as the rest of the family was getting up from the table. Ryoga gulped as he saw the looks he was getting. In a flash, Ryoga ran out of the front door, or that was the plan. Instead, he ended up running into a closet. Soun and Genma proceeded to open the closet door and pull the lost boy out. As they got him clear of the closet, a broom handle was broken over his head. Every one looked at Kasumi, who was holding the broken handle in her hands. The ever-present smile was gone from her face as she looked at the two men, who were still holding the now unconscious boy between them.

"He disrupted dinner, and upset the family. We just couldn't have that." She said as she turned around to dispose of the broken handle, but not before her right eye twitched.

Meanwhile, at a port on Japan's western shore, the Chinese junk dealer was waiting patiently for his transportation back to his home country. "Stupid amazons!" He cursed. "Why they always try to get something for nothing." He continued to mumble when a hand reached out and grabbed him around the neck. Turning him around, the junk dealer was forced to come face to face with a hooded man.

"Where is the stick?" The hooded man growled.

"I I I gave i-it a-away." Stammered the junk dealer.

"To whom?" Came the reply.

"Don't know n-name, only th-that he lives in N-Nerima." With a grunt, the hooded man dropped the dealer and started walking away from the pier. Just then the gates to the ship opened up for boarding. The dealer ran up onto the ship, vowing never again to get involved in the mystical junk business.


End file.
